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MAKING A SUCCESS 
of SALESMANSHIP 

* 


By Maxwell Droke 


Chicago and New York 
THE DARTNELL CORPORATION 
1922 






Published by 

The Dartnell Corporation 

Dartnell Building 
Ravenswood and Leland Avenues 
Chicago, Illinois 

inrmnmimnTnnniiiii iH i m iiimnnimniiiminnutiniiiiiiniiiiimiiiiimmmrmTmii 

All privileges of reproducing 
illustrations or letter press 
expressly reserved by the 
publishers 

iiiiiiiimiiiimmiimmmiiimnmiinnmnnmiimmiiinmmiinmniinmmiiiinnmHi 



Copyright 1922 

in the United States, Canada and 
Great Britain 

THE DARTNELL CORPORATION 
Chicago 

Printed by The Dartnell Press 


JUN "S 1922 

©CUBS 1129 

I 




To the Fighting Salesmen 
of America 

—those progressive , aggressive 
chaps who know that railroad 
time-tables are gay deceivers , and 
the truth is not in them; that the 
impossible little hostelry across 
from the railroad station in all 
towns of 500 and under is sure to 
be termed the Palace Hotel ; and 
that a buyer may smile and smile 
and be a canceller still — 

—this book is dedicated with hon¬ 
est affection and admiration , 

by 

The Author 







































' • I 



« 












Just a Few Words of 
Explanation 

A CERTAIN naive and candid author, of a 
generation gone by, once declared that he 
wrote books in order to have an excuse to 
write prefaces. 

Perhaps that author was in a more fortunate 
position than the present writer. Maybe he real¬ 
ly had something to say in the preface of his 
books. I am afraid, in this instance, that I have 
not. I find myself in the sorry predicament of 
having put everything into the book. This was an 
unfortunate slip-up and greatly to be deplored. 
But, you see, I am not a professional writer of 
books, and I must plead ignorance of most of the 
tricks of the trade. 

I believe that this book, Making a Success of 
Salesmanship, will not require extended explana¬ 
tion or introduction; if it does, then I have failed 
in my desire to have a simple, friendly talk with 
salesmen about the day-to-day problems that we 
all meet up with on the battlegrounds of business. 

I did not write this book. It was written for 
me by dozens of salesmen, in as many lines; men 


who have told me their stories, and discussed 
with me their trials and triumphs. If you find 
between the covers of this little volume (an 
expression which all accredited preface writers 
use) a bit of cheer, inspiration and helpfulness, it 
is to these salesmen your gratitude is due. They 
furnished the power—I merely pushed the pen. 

Maxwell Droke. 




8 







Making People Want What 
You Have to Sell 

A FEW YEARS ago a certain salesman who 
had met with rather phenomenal success 
in the east was transferred to a middle- 
western city which is celebrated for its large 
percentage of foreign born population. 

The salesman started out with a great deal of 
“pep” and “ginger” but for some reason or other 
he couldn't close his prospects. Finally the Dis¬ 
trict Manager, who was conversant with local 
conditions, pointed out the trouble, “You are 
traveling at too fast a gait,” he declared. “You 
are trying to sell these phlegmatic foreigners by 
the same strong-arm methods you used on the 
high-powered, quick-thinking eastern business 
executive, and it won't work. Help your prospect 
to think—and think your way—as you go along, 
and you will do a lot more business in this town.” 

The salesman saw the point and immediately 
altered his tactics. Speaking slowly and dis¬ 
tinctly, he presented his proposition a step at a 
time, pausing frequently to ask, “Is that perfectly 
clear to you, Mr. Schneider?” or “You agree with 


9 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 

that statement, do you not ?” And throughout the 
interview the salesman closely studied the pros¬ 
pect, carefully noting the reaction to each point 
and making certain that every claim wns through¬ 
ly believed. As a result, the very first day he 
wrote $20,000 -worth of insurance. 

Psychologists, you know, tell us that a sale is 
consummated when the prospective customer 
makes up his mind that he wants a certain com¬ 
modity more than he wants the money required 
to purchase it. 

That is all very true. But the fact remains 
that the prospective customer, left to his own de¬ 
vices would, nine times out of ten, decide nega¬ 
tively. We men who earn our bread and butter 
by making sales know from practical experience 
that very few commodities are bought volun¬ 
tarily. They have to be sold. 

And the very foundation of every sale is—confi¬ 
dence. First and foremost we must make our 
man believe in us, in our product, and in our 
proposition, before we can hope to close the sale. 
You remember the story of the man who by way 
of experiment stationed himself on a busy street 
corner and tried in vain to sell genuine five-dollar 
gold pieces for fifty cents. He had the goods all 
right. But he couldn't secure the confidence of 
the passing public. 


10 


MAKING PEOPLE WANT WHAT YOU HAVE TO SELL 

When you persuade a prospect to put his signa¬ 
ture on and order you may be sure that it is be¬ 
cause you have won his confidence. And, by the 
same token, when you fail to sell a man you may 
almost invariably conclude that you have failed 
to gain his complete confidence. He may give 
any one of a score of excuses, but the plain truth 
is that you have not quite convinced him that your 
proposition is worth-while to him at the immedi¬ 
ate moment. Some place in your canvass you 
have said something which your prospect does 
not thoroughly believe. And until he does be¬ 
lieve, wholeheartedly, and without reservation, 
you cannot sell him. 

A northern salesman calling on general store 
trade below the Mason-Dixon line went for two 
weeks without selling a nickel's worth of mer¬ 
chandise. Then he tumbled to the situation and 
discovered that the small-town southern merchant 
has no confidence in the “slick drummer" who 
breezes in, slams his sample case down on the 
counter and starts right off with his sales talk. 
If you want to sell this type of customer you must 
“visit" with him. Sit down and talk for “a spell" 
about anything but business. Otherwise the 
dealer isn't going to “take any stock" in what 
you have to say about your line. 

“The biggest thing in selling," says a man who 
has sold his services to the largest institutions in 


ll 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 


America, “is to make the prospect think as you 
think. And the quickest way to do that is to talk 
in the prospect's language. Show him that you 
know something about his business and his prob¬ 
lems. Let him know from the very first sentence 
that you both live on the same street, so to speak." 

All this, to be sure, sounds like the simplest sort 
of fundamental talk. And yet more often than 
not these vital points are disregarded or minim¬ 
ized. A sales executive of one of the country's 
largest manufacturers of office furniture, re¬ 
ceives each day many calls from magazine and 
newspaper solicitors. “These people call," he 
says, “for the supposed purpose of convincing me 
that my company should spend money in their 
particular media. Yet almost invariably they dis¬ 
play a woeful ignorance of our problems and our 
specific needs. Why, I have actually had solicitors 
call on me who did not know what my company 
manufactures.” 

This same executive, by the way, has his own 
sales force trained to serve as well as sell. These 
men, in calling on a prospect, invariably make a 
close study of the office furniture requirements of 
the individual client, often going so far as to 
sketch up plans for the rearrangement of equip¬ 
ment, in the interest of general office efficiency. 
It is this personalized service—this direct interest 


12 


MAKING PEOPLE WANT WHAT YOU HAVE TO SELL 

in the prospect—that counts when order-signing 
time comes ’round. 

The president of a western corporation—a man 
who, in his earlier days, led the sales force a 
merry chase—declared that his ability to break 
sales records was predicated upon the fact that 
he never went to call upon a prospect until he 
knew that he had a message — an individual 
message—for that particular prospect. 

“I was calling on bankers in those days,” he 
says, “but I wasn’t satisfied with a fairly accurate 
general knowledge of the banking business. I 
studied the banks carefully in each town I vis¬ 
ited. I made it my business to know the distinc¬ 
tive features of each institution—the date of es¬ 
tablishment, amount of capital stock; number and 
general nature of accounts; the class of people 
the bank particularly catered to, etc. And you 
may be sure that in calling on the banker I lost 
no time in letting him know that I knew some¬ 
thing about his business. The prospect was 
almost always pleased to know that I had been 
spending some time and thought in preparation 
for the interview. My knowledge of his problems 
impressed him. I had his confidence. He was 
ready to believe what I had to say. And with 
that kind of an opening it is little wonder that I 
was able to close a large number of contracts.” 


13 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 

But, granted that we have the prospect started 
on the right track, just how shall we make him 
leant to buy? IIow shall we stimulate the buying 
urge? What, after all, are the motives which 
lead to purchase? 

Here, as accurately as we can reduce them to 
paper, are the six motives which influence the 
purchases. These half-dozen classifications are 
not to be considered as final. They simply offer us 
a basis upon which to work . 

First, a desire to gain money or profit. 

Second, the utility appeal. 

Third, the gratification of pride. 

Fourth, the desire for pleasure or recreation. 

Fifth, the desire for advancement. 

Sixth, the appeal of caution. 

Any one or more of these motives may enter 
into the sale of a commodity. 

Let us assume, for purpose of illustration, that 
we are calling on the retailer, introducing a 
superior type of toy for the youngsters. Now, 
obviously, here is an instance where our first buy¬ 
ing motive is of vital import. The dealer will 
buy these goods—if he buys at all—in order to 


14 


MAKING PEOPLE WANT WHAT YOU HAVE TO SELL 

gain money or profit, by reselling the toys to his 
customers. But we would get nowhere at all by 
confining ourselves to playing upon this motive. 
Our first job is to sell the dealer as om individual. 
We must do this before we can hope to sell him 
as the purchasing agent of the community. 

And so we take into consideration our fourth 
buying motive—a desire for pleasure. We show 
the dealer just how this toy brings joy to the 
young folks. We get him enthusiastic about it. 
We convince him that he can sell it to the children 
of his neighborhood. Then—and not until then— 
do we introduce our high-pressure talk on the 
profit which may be made on every sale. 

Take another example. We are selling an add¬ 
ing machine to a manufacturer with a fair-sized 
office. Now the outstanding feature of an adding 
machine is that it saves time. Thus, at first 
glance, we see that our selling motive is the utility 
appeal. Beyond a doubt, a device which saves 
as much time as an adding machine is a useful 
appliance. Yet we cannot go to any hard-headed 
business man and sell him an adding machine 
solely on that appeal. We cannot simply say to 
the boss, “You should buy this machine because 
it will save an hour a day for every clerk in your 
office.” The boss is not particularly interested in 
saving and hour’s time for his clerk But he is 
interested in saving or making money for himself. 


15 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 

So we go right back to our first buying motive. 
We show him what that hour of time really 
means. We interpret it in terms of dollars and 
cents. We demonstrate to him that with aid of 
this device he can either get more work from his 
present force, or the same amount of work with 
a smaller force. Presented in this way, we have 
a picture which the prospect readily grasps. 

And so we go right on down the line. As we 
proceed with our analysis it becomes more and 
more evident that no two articles can be sold in 
exactly the same way, because the same motives 
do not govern the sale. In selling merchandise 
designed primarily for the gratification of pride 
we do not, as a rule, have a strong appeal to the 
reasoning faculties. We cannot say “You should 
buy this because you will make money by the 
transaction.” Nor can we say that a $3,000 Per¬ 
sian rug is more useful than a Brussels carpet at 
a fraction of the cost. Our appeal here is to the 
vanity of the prospect. That should be the 
keynote of our conquest. 

But while the dominating sales motive may be 
more or less evident, quite often there are minor 
appeals which a good many of us are inclined to 
overlook. Would you, for instance, consider the 
appeal of caution an important point in the sale 
of paint? 


16 


MAKING PEOPLE WANT WHAT YOU HAVE TO SELL 

A middle-western paint manufacturer noted a 
material increase in sales as soon as he began 
featuring ‘The paint with a five-year guarantee.” 
Other brands on the market were just as good. 
Some of them sold at lower price. Yet the ap¬ 
peal of caution led buyers to insist on the guaran¬ 
teed paint. They wanted to be sure. 

But just when we get our chart of buying 
motives nicely worked out, so that we know the 
“whys” and “wherefores” that enter into the sale 
of commodities, along comes the disturbing ele¬ 
ment of personal equation. Different people buy 
a thing for different reasons. That is why it is 
so extremely important for a salesman to closely 
study an individual, his characteristics, habits, 
wants and needs. If every sales point struck 
each prospect in exactly the same way, we would 
mighty soon have this game of selling reduced to 
a cold and calculating science. But that isn’t 
possible. 

And so we come right back again to the very 
thing we were talking about a while ago—the im¬ 
portance of individualizing our sales canvass. A 
certain automobile manufacturer realizes the 
necessity of this, and in a bulletin to dealers and 
dealers’ salesmen he advises: 

“First of all, determine just why the prospect 
is buying a motor car, and the purpose for which 


17 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 

it is intended. Is it to be a run-around-town car; 
a business car, a family car? The purpose to 
which the car will be put of course has an impor¬ 
tant bearing on the type of canvass you will use. 
If it is to be a family car, size up the situation as 
well as you can, and find out who has the say. 
Try to get the whole family in on your demon¬ 
stration. If a woman is to drive the car, don't 
fail to stress the ease of operation, the flexibility 
and the simplicity of control." 

This same manufacturer also points out that 
the previous experience of the prospect is a 
considerable factor in the present sale. This is 
true in many lines; particularly so, perhaps, in 
machinery and equipment. 

Try and impress this idea on the mind of every 
merchant or clerk you come in contact with: For 
every customer who enters the store there is 
definite cost. If a thousand customers a month 
come in, and it costs $500 a month overhead, 
lights, water, heat, rent, advertising, etc., then 
every customer that comes in the store represents 
an investment of fifty cents. Make it a point to 
interest each customer in enough merchandise to 
pay the overhead charge on him. 


18 


Getting in to See Your 
Man 

T HERE'S one thing I would like to impress 
upon every man in this room," said the 
sales manager of a machinery house at a 
recent convention of the company’s representa¬ 
tives, “and that point is that you are actually 
doing a man a favor to step in his office and talk 
to him about our proposition. 

“I wish that I could get you men to thinking 
about your daily calls from that angle. I wish 
that I could make you realize to the fullest extent 
that you are in a position to render a real service 
to the business executives whose offices you visit. 
If you would view your work in that way, we 
would have fewer of those, 'Unable to secure 
interview’ notations, on our Daily Reports. 

“Because you would go about your work with 
and entirely different feeling. You would be think¬ 
ing all the time 'I have a message for this man. 
It is a message he ought to hear because it will 
mean a saving in money for him.’ Thinking 
along those lines you just naturally can’t help 
displaying more confidence than if you were con- 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 


tinually reminding yourself. Tve got to sell this 
man; Tve got to take a $1,000.00 order away 
from him. Gosh! I wonder how Fll do it !’ 

‘This confidence in yourself and your proposi¬ 
tion will work wonders in beating down the office 
boy and private secretary barriers, and getting 
in to the man you want to see. More than that, 
it will aid you all through the interview to present 
your story from the right angle. 

“Forget all about the fact that you are selling 
machinery. Remember only that you are giving 
the man before you opportunity to buy increased 
production at a mighty low cost; in fact the 
machinery costs nothing at all because it pays for 
itself the very first year—and then goes right on 
saving money for him. Don’t lose sight of the 
fact that your prospect is really the person who 
is going to benefit most by the transaction. The 
company perhaps may get a $1,000.00 order. You 
stand to make a 20% commission. But the 
manufacturer is going to make money out of the 
equipment year after year. He is the man who 
is getting the big end of the deal. It is your job 
to prove it to him.” 

I believe there is an appreciable amount of 
sound logic in this sales manager’s talk. And I, 
for one, should like to see a much more general 
application of the viewpoint which he brings out. 


20 


GETTING IN TO SEE YOUR MAN 


Beyond doubt there are too many weak-kneed 
salesmen, making half-hearted attempts to sell 
goods today—in a time when intensive methods 
are more necessary than ever before. They go 
about from place to place with a “Will-you-please 
-look-at-my line?” attitude that fairly invites a 
turn-down from the outer office without even a 
chance to talk with The-Man-Who-Buys. 

They have not yet learned that in this world a 
man is taken pretty much at his own valuation. 
These men, therefore, go about with the feeling 
that they are receiving rather than dispensing 
favors. Naturally this leads to an instinctive 
awe of the prospect, which is a great detriment in 
closing a sale. A certain sales executive once 
gave one of his not-sure-of-himself salesman some 
good advice in a long, friendly letter. Here is a 
paragraph which may prove generally helpful to 
other men: 

“The buyer may represent wealth, power, industry 
—and yet he is just a man. No bigger than you 
are. No more wonderful and magnificent a crea¬ 
ture : One telling argument—one little sales point, 
and he is in your power! Get this fact firmly fixed 
in your mind and you can make sales!” 

But let it be emphatically understood that in 
advocating a more confident attitude in regard to 
yourself, and the thing you sell, we hold no brief 
for brag and bluster. Everything may be lost by 


21 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 

bluffing and blowing. A great deal may be gained 
by an air of quiet, dignified assurance. 

We have all read entertaining stories of “the 
slick salesman” who by some clever trick or 
scheme wormed his way into the august presence 
of Mr. Hard-to-See. But such ingenious and 
ingenuous stunts are to be lightly regarded in the 
work-a-day world of actual sales making. Some¬ 
how or other in our day-to-day routine we never 
seem to have an opportunity to put into practice 
these wonderful plans that we read about. 

We don’t want methods that will work once in 
a thousand times. What we are seeking is an ap¬ 
proach which may be used on Jenkins in the next 
block, and Baldwin, just around the corner. 
Fancy tricks may be all right for the parlor 
magician, but not for us. 

It is significant that salesmen everywhere are 
dropping subterfuges and “clever” schemes and 
substituting a frank sincerity which carries them 
much farther. A salesman of my acquaintance 
who used to plead for “just a few minutes with 
Mr. Blank” now obtains incomparably better re¬ 
sults by coming right out somewhat along this 
line. “Will you tell Mr. Blank, please, that I am 
here from the National Corporation, to demon¬ 
strate a method which makes it possible for him 
to manufacture castings at a saving of fully 20%. 


22 



GETTING IN TO SEE YOUR MAN 


It will take me at least two hours to make this 
demonstration. If it is impossible for Mr. Blank 
to spare the time this morning, I should like to 
arrange for an appointment at his convenience.” 

If the secretary does not apear above the aver¬ 
age in mentality, the salesman asks for a piece of 
paper, writes out his mesage, and sends it in to 
the executive. 

Many salesmen have found that the time- 
honored plan of merely sending in a conventional 
card, and waiting for developments, is not con¬ 
ducive to the best results. There is a growing ten¬ 
dency to go a step farther and, in asking a busy 
man for the most precious thing he possesses— 
time—give him some intimation as to why you 
seek an audience and what you expect to give him 
in return for his courtesy. 

A printing salesman representing a house special¬ 
izing in large runs at a low price, found it exceed¬ 
ingly difficult to get in to see his prospects. No¬ 
body wanted to see a printing salesman. There 
was almost a continual procession of these men 
calling on the large manufacturing concerns— 
each with the same story to tell, the same 
bulging portfolio of gaudy samples. 

Suddenly one day this particular salesman had 
an inspiration. Taking out one of his regular 


23 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 

cards, he scribbled across the face of it, “I want 
to show you how to save 10% on every piece of 
printed matter you send out.” This card he 
handed to the office boy with instructions to carry 
it to an executive of the firm. The boy returned 
immediately stating that Mr. Smith would hear 
what the salesman had to say. 

“You are the first printing salesman who ever 
gave me a definite reason why I should spend time 
talking with him,” was Mr. Smith's comment, 
when the salesman had been ushered in. “Natur¬ 
ally I want to save 10% on my printing—and at 
the same time secure good work. Tell me how I can 
do it.” It was the finest kind of an opening and the 
salesman made the most of it. Within an hour 
he had a nice order. Needless to add, he has been 
scribbling notations on his cards ever since. 

Some business houses selling a rather high 
priced article or service find it an excellent plan 
to do a certain amount of missionary work in ad¬ 
vance of the salesman's visit. They send out let¬ 
ters and printed matter explaining their proposi¬ 
tion and whetting the prospect's appetite for “full 
particulars.” Sometimes there is a post card 
which the prospect fills out, requesting that a 
salesman call at a definitely stated time to “talk 
things over.” 

Most of us, of course, are familar with this 


24 




GETTING IN TO SEE YOUR MAN 


form of procedure. It is not practicable in all 
cases, and can be used most effectively in the mar¬ 
keting of a specialty. In cases where it fits in, 
this plan furnishes the field force with many live 
leads, which usually may be closed in much less 
time than “cold” prospects, selected at random. 
Then, too, when you have an invitation to call, 
you minimize the trouble of getting in to see your 
man. 

The sales manager of a concern manufacturing 
a highly-specialized accounting system for banks, 
carries his missionary work farther than is the 
usual custom. He doesn’t rely upon the mails, but 
uses telegrams exclusively. First, a definite route 
is laid out for a salesman. A telegram is sent to 
each bank of a certain capital rating, in every 
city the salesman expects to visit. This message 
tells briefly what the system is, what it will 
accomplish for the bank, explains that a represen¬ 
tative is on his way to the city, and asks for de¬ 
finite appointment, by telegraph. As the replies 
come in, instructions are written or telegraphed 
to the salesman. An unbelievably large per¬ 
centage of replies is received. 

Salesmen for this house are instructed to call 
only on appointment. The company regards its 
system so highly they wish always to surround 
their presentation with the prestige which comes 


25 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 


with a direct invitation to call. If a bank officer 
does not evidence sufficient interest to answer the 
telegram, they prefer to wait until a salesman 
is again in the city, and repeat their message. 
They figure that sooner or later he will extend 
the invitation. 

This, to be sure, is an exceptional example. It is 
presented here simply to show the importance 
which some business houses attach to this job of 
making the right impression on the prospective 
buyer, even before the actual opening of the 
interview. 

A successful automobile salesman exercises 
perhaps even greater care in arranging for his 
interview. On rainy days he visits the large office 
buildings, and makes an office-to-office canvass. On 
these visits he doesn't try particularly to get ac¬ 
quainted with The Boss; simply chats awhile with 
the stenographer or clerk, finds out what make of 
car The Boss drives, model, age, condition and as 
much other miscellaneous information as he can 
gather. 

Then some morning the salesman telephones 
The Boss, saying, “Mr. Jones, I have a trade-in 
offer to make you on your 1918 Whirlwind road¬ 
ster that I am sure will interest you. May I come 
up for a few minutes and talk to you about it?" 
The form of course depends upon the amount of 


26 


GETTING IN TO SEE YOUR MAN 


data which the salesman has been able to gather 
regarding the car. He always tries to put in 
some little personal touch to indicate that he is 
taking a special interest in this particular pros¬ 
pect and his car. Often the prospect is thus flat¬ 
tered into giving an interview which he would 
not otherwise grant. 

Of course when the salesman calls up he 
endeavors to talk with all of the assurance 
possible; and to take for granted the prospect will 
give him a hearing. He has found, in common 
with a great many other salesmen, that the very 
best way to get in to see your man is to expect to 
get in, and then go right ahead and make your 
expectations come true. 


27 










Bossing the Interview 

I T'S all in getting the right start" a very 
successful salesman said to me once upon 
a time, in discussing this matter of boss¬ 
ing the interview. “If I can get the buyer's 
interest in the first five minutes, he is as good 
as sold." 

There is a tremendous amount of practical 
“salesology" packed into that single statement. 
No matter what you are selling, the right start is 
an immensely important- consideration. And a 
mighty good way to get the upper hand in an in¬ 
terview is to ask questions. The great trouble 
with many salesmen is that they spend too much 
time making pretty speeches to the prospect, in¬ 
stead of intelligently questioning him. I have 
heard salesmen spend half an hour or more ex¬ 
plaining some trifling sales obstacle that bobbed 
up, when a single, direct question would have 
turned the trick. The big thing is to beat the 
prospect to it and put him on the witness stand 
before he has a chance to fire too many questions 
at your head. 


29 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 


A large Eastern manufacturing concern main¬ 
tains a school for salesmen, in which the men are 
trained, primarily, in the art of questioning. As a 
consequence, it is almost impossible to catch a 
salesman for that house at a disadvantage. They 
are ready for any emergency. 

“Your machine costs too much,” objects Mrs. 
Jones, the prospective buyer. 

“Why do you think so, Mrs. Jones?” the sales¬ 
man instantly asks. 

Mrs. Jones hasn’t any real reason. She is taken 
by surprise. Instead of a long-drawn-out argu¬ 
ment, she is asked a simple question. She hesi¬ 
tates, mumbles some inconsequental answer. And 
the salesman becomes boss of the interview In 
his own way he explains clearly and forcibly the 
features of his product. Thus, he shows Mrs. 
Jones that although she pays more, she also gets 
more for her money , and convinces her his price 
is the right price. 


A reprensentative of a New England firm of 
Industrial Engineers—one of those combined sales 
and service men that have become essential in 
many industries—found that in a number of 
instances he was not “showing up” to the best 


30 


BOSSING THE INTERVIEW 

advantage because he was forced to present his 
“sales talk” before he had laid the proper 
foundation. In other words, the prospect “bossed” 
the interview. 

In fully two-thirds of his interviews, the first 
question asked the engineer was, “Well, what can 
you do for us?” Now, it was manifestly impos¬ 
sible to give an adequate answer to that question 
without a thorough survey of the plant. 

For a time the engineer used to “stall” such 
inquiries, answering as best he could in general 
terms. Later he developed what has proved a 
much more effective plan. Now he says frankly, 
“Mr. Brown, I haven't the slightest idea what I 
can do for you. Perhaps I cannot help you at all. 
What do you wish to accomplish ?” 

The straightforwardness of the statement makes 
a hit. Then comes the question, which invariably 
gets the plant executive to talking about his busi¬ 
ness, his problems and his needs. This is just 
the information the engineer is seeking. The 
tables are turned. Instead of being hampered and 
badgered, the service man has the whip hand. 

It would have been little short of heresy a de¬ 
cade or so ago to have spoken of a salesman boss¬ 
ing an interview. But times have changed, and 
the traveling man has changed with the times. 


31 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 


He was formerly known, you will recall, as a 
“drummer.” More often than not the term was a 
decided misnomer. Technically, a drummer was 
supposed to drum up business for his house. He 
seldom did. His work consisted largely of selling 
goods to folks who wanted to buy them. His hori¬ 
zon was bounded by the buyer's “Want Book”. He 
simply came in, took an order for whatever items 
the buyer chanced to think of, and went his way 
well content with the day's work. 

But the drummer is dead—killed by the keen 
competition of the age. The order-taker has been 
succeeded by the order-getter. The salesman of 
today isn't satisfied with orders that may be 
handed to him on a silver tray. Not by a long 
shot. He believes wholeheartedly in the Gospel- 
of-Get-Up-And-Get-There. The world is his 
oyster, and he purposes to make it shell out. 

As an instance of the aggressive methods which 
the modern salesman sometimes employs to min¬ 
imize the prospect's objections and gain a point 
in the interview, there is the case of a bright 
young newspaper solicitor in the central states. 
Now and then this solicitor meets up with a busi¬ 
ness man who doesn't believe in printed publi¬ 
city. For such men he has a clever line of action 
which frequently “gets under the skin.” 

Remember, please, that the prospect has pro- 


32 


BOSSING THE INTERVIEW 

fessed a disbelief in the value of advertising. He 
has said, in effect: “I don’t need to advertise; I 
have been in business here for twenty years, and 
everybody knows me.” 

“You carry a watch, don’t you, Mr. Smith?” 
the salesman suddenly asks. 

Mr. Smith does. 

“Is it an American or Swiss movement?” 

Mr. Smith answers, a little proud of his ability 
to remember accurately and responds promptly. 

“Now, Mr. Smith, will you tell me if the figure 
six on your watch is a roman or arabic char¬ 
acter?” 

“Roman!” answers Mr. Smith triumphantly. 

“Will you please look at your watch, Mr. 
Smith.” 

Mr. Smith does so, and is much chagrined to 
find that there is no figure six! It has been 
obliterated by the second hand. 

“Now, Mr. Smith,” says the salesman, quickly 
following up his lead, “How many men in this 
town think of you as often as you look at your 
watch? If you can’t recall off-hand, the details 
of your own watch construction, how can you 
expect people who don’t think of you once a 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 


month to remember everything you carry in 
stock?” 

But like many other out of the beaten path 
sales plans, the little stunt I have just related 
must be employed with exceeding care. Such 
schemes to “draw out the prospect” may be well 
termed the dynamite of Salesdom. Their potential 
power for building sales is tremendous. Their 
potential power for destruction is almost as great. 

There are some men upon whom it would never 
do to try such stunt. Your instinct and your 
knowledge of human nature warn you against it. 
As an experienced salesman you would never 
think of using the same sort of tactics on every 
customer. This talk about all men being equal, 
sounds very nice when we hear it in Fourth of 
July orations. But you know and I know that it 
isn’t true. Men are not equal in intelligence. And 
no two of them think exactly alike. Ancestry, 
training, environment, habits and a dozen other 
factors all count mightily in the making of men. 

The more accurately we are able to “size up” 
a man, judge his character and individualize our 
appeal, the better will be our sales record. In 
many quarters, however, there is an all-too-pre- 
valent inclination to look upon the buyer not as 
a flesh-and-blood human being, but as a sort 


34 


BOSSING THE INTERVIEW 


of automaton, in whom is vested the power to 
purchase. 

The game is to stand up before this puppet and 
deliver a carefully rehearsed verbal barrage in 
the hope that some one point will strike home, and 
incline the buyer to reach for his order-signing 
fountain pen. Occasionally this happens. But the 
salesman who depends upon a set speech is 
taking chances. Usually an order book lasts him 
a long time. 

The successful salesman—the man who really 
bosses the business interviews of today—makes it 
his business to know just as much about the pros¬ 
pective buyer as he possibly can. And then he 
uses that knowledge to the best advantage in 
shaping the sale. It is a simple system that, con¬ 
sistently applied, day in and day out, is making 
“top-notchers” out of chaps who otherwise might 
prove mere mediocre order-takers. 

In this connection let me cite you an actual 
instance which goes to show that the individual 
appeal really does pay splendid dividends on the 
time and thought invested. 

The late Tom Lowry, former traction magnate of 
Milwaukee, was the despair of a host of insurance 
solicitors. By all of the rules of the game Lowry 
should have been a “ripe” prospect for a fat life 


35 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 


insurance policy. But the traction man repeat¬ 
edly rebuffed every agent who approached him on 
the subject. He wasn’t interested. And he said 
so in rather definite terms. Lowry took pride in 
handing out a sharp turn-down. Whenever a gen¬ 
eral agent took on a new man, he sent him over 
to see Lowry as a sort of courage test. If the 
new man lived through the ordeal and came out 
with any confidence in his ability, the agent knew 
he would do. 

Finally a field representative of one of the 
eastern companies interested himself in the case. 
“What sort of a man is this fellow Lowry?” he 
asked the local agent. 

“Oh, he is a typical sport,” was the response. 
“He will bet on anything from the presidential 
election to the sort of weather they will have in 
Portland, Oregon on the thirteenth of next 
March.” 

“All right,” replied the field man quietly, “I 
am going to sell Lowry a $100,000.00 life insur¬ 
ance policy.” 

The local agent insisted that it couldn’t be done. 
But the field representative had bossed interviews 
before. No amount of depressing history could 
discourage him. He called at Mr. Lowry’s office 
and sent in his personal card. Back came a re- 


36 


BOSSING THE INTERVIEW 


quest for the man’s business. The insurance 
representative replied that he wanted to make a 
bet. He was instantly admitted to the inner office. 

“Mr. Lowry,” began the field man, without 
preliminary preamble, “I want to wager 
$100,000.00 to $1,800.00 that you will die within 
the next year.” 

“You’re on!” rejoined Lowry. 

“All right,” replied the field man, “just sign 
this.” And he passed over an insurance ap¬ 
plication blank that had been previously made 
out. In less than three minutes he had Lowry’s 
name on the dotted line. The individualized 
appeal won out where a score of commonplace 
solicitations had proved miserable failures. 

But a knowledge of your prospect, and of 
human nature generally, isn’t by any means all 
there is to selling. Of even greater importance is 
a knowledge of your proposition. 

There seems to be a general impression that 
a “clever” salesman can successfully sell any¬ 
thing, regardless of whether or not he knows 
what he is talking about. Nothing could be far¬ 
ther from the truth. A peppy, punchful sales talk, 
delivered in the most impressive oratorical style 
will avail little unless the salesman can satis¬ 
factorily answer such questions as, “What sort 


37 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 

of steel do you use in manufacturing your No. 16 
Meat Axes?” or “Why should I buy your line 
when Blank material is three cents a pound 
cheaper and is just as good?” 

The salesman who is kidding himself into 
believing that he can “get by” with only a super¬ 
ficial knowledge of his line is literally committing 
sales suicide. Ask the man who led last month’s 
quota race. He will tell you that “guessing” is 
a dangerous game. You’ve got to know what you 
are selling. And when I say that I mean literally 
know the proposition up one side and down the 
other, with all of the “ifs” “ands” and “buts;” 
frankly facing weakness as well as the strong 
points. 

Remember the motto they used to have up over 
the door of the old High School back home, 
“Knowledge is Power.” That’s the gospel truth 
if ever it was told. I tell you, men, there’s nothing 
quite so stimulating as the certainty which comes 
of “knowing your stuff”. If you really know what 
you are talking about you needn’t be afraid to 
frankly face any buyer who walks on two legs. 
You can go forth with the fighting light in your 
eye—and return with an autographed order. 

But how many of us really know our line? 
What we need, nowdays, is to spend more time 
pouring over the sales manual of the house, and 


38 


BOSSING THE INTERVIEW 


less time practicing gestures before the hotel 
mirror. It is knowledge that enables salesmen to 
boss the interview and dominate the prospect. 

And there is no substitute for knowledge; no 
alternative that you can buy over the counter, or 
take down from a convenient shelf at a moment's 
notice. There is just one way to get knowledge, 
and that is to dig for it. The deeper you dig the 
greater shall be your reward. For that is one of 
the rules of the game. 












s 


/ 




* 


x 


I 












Selling the Product of 
the Product 


A FEW years ago a bright young man started 
out as a salesman for a large middle-western 
piano dealer. For several weeks he plugged 
away, making rather a poor showing. The dealer 
wondered why it was. The salesman made a good 
appearance; he had a pleasant personality, and 
was a fluent talker. Yet somehow he didn't pro¬ 
duce results. So the merchant decided to go with 
the young man to call on some prospects and see 
for himself just what the difficulty was. It didn't 
take him long to find out. 

“The trouble is that you try too hard to sell 
pianos," he told the salesman after watching him 
work. “As soon as you have a possible customer 
cornered you begin talking to him about style and 
finish and details of construction; in short, you 
make a strenous effort to sell him a piano. Now, 
the plain truth is that very few people buy pianos. 
They buy an instrument of recreation; they buy 
a means of education. They buy the product of 
the product —music. The hardest way in the world 
to sell a piano is to try merely to sell the piano 


41 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 

itself; to cram a lot of techincal information down 
the prospect's throat, when he is ready and wait¬ 
ing to be sold on what the piano will do for him, 
and what it will give him.” 

The sales manager of a manufacturer of dic¬ 
tating machines had this idea of selling the prod¬ 
uct of the product when he said to his sales 
force at a recent convention, “Men, I wish that I 
could impress upon you the fact that you are sell¬ 
ing a device that no one wants. Positively not one 
man in a thousand wants this dictating machine 
of ours. He isn't interested in it. But he is vit¬ 
ally interested in securing better letters, quicker 
letters, cheaper letters. Then why not center your 
efforts on these points, instead of spending all 
your time talking about the machine ?'' 

It is by no means a new idea, this plan of sell¬ 
ing a service rather than a cold, inanimate article. 
I claim for it no measure of originality. It is 
based upon the universally recognized fact that 
every man is the most important human being in 
the world —to himself. He is primarily interested 
in his hopes, his fears, his ambitions, his own little 
family circle. Therefore, when we try to interest 
a prospect in our patented coffee roaster, or our 
very-much-superior farm tractor, we are taking 
the long, hard route to sales. He doesn't care 
anything about us or our product. But if we 


42 


SELLING THE PRODUCT OF THE PRODUCT 

follow the course of the clever piano salesman, or 
the dictating machine man, and link up our prod¬ 
uct with an interest which the prospect already 
has then we immediately battle down the bar¬ 
riers and the prospect is ready to listen to our 
sales story. 

A resident manager of a correspondence school 
found that he increased his closures by fully 20% 
when he discarded his conventional opening and 
approached a prospect with, “Mr. Jones, will you 
give me four minutes to show you just how I can 
increase your weekly pay check by at least ten 
dollars?” The prospect, as a rule, was not at 
all interested in text books and correspondence 
courses, but he was vitally interested in the size 
of his pay check. 

A salesman handling check protectors, who, a 
few years ago broke a number of records on the 
Pacific Coast, developed a singularly successful 
method of operation. His first move on reaching 
a town was to make up a list of prospects, using 
city directories, telephone books, etc., for 
the purpose. Then, calling at the leading bank he 
established friendly relations with one of the of¬ 
ficers, usually the cashier. He made it a point to 
thoroughly inspect the check protector used by 
the bank, making any necessary adjustments or 
repairs without charge. When this work was com- 


43 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 

pleted the banker was usually glad to give a few 
moments time to checking the prospect list, fur¬ 
nishing the name of “the man to see” in each in¬ 
stance; the bank handling the account, etc. A 
friendly call at the other banks was then made, 
as a matter of policy, and the salesman was ready 
for business. 

Instead of calling from office to office and ask¬ 
ing, in a half-apologetic manner for an audience 
with “whoever signs the checks” the salesman 
confidently sought out his picked prospect, “Mr. 
Wilson,” he began, “I have just been talking with 
Mr. Holton over at the First National (or what¬ 
ever the prospect's bank might be) and he sug¬ 
gested that I drop in to tell you about some new 
methods of handling and making out checks, to 
safeguard against these forgeries and frauds 
that we are hearing so much about nowdays.” 

Thus, in effect backed by an officer of the pros¬ 
pect's bank, the salesman found it remarkably 
easy to get under way with his canvass. The pros¬ 
pect's interest was immediately enlisted because 
this man wasn't selling check protectors. He was 
selling the service, which his device would render; 
the safety it would afford. 

A man who sells popcorn machines to mer¬ 
chants in an eastern state invariably refers to 
his product as a “Nickel Making Machine.” “I 
find,” he says, “that this puts across very effect- 


44 


SELLING THE PRODUCT OF THE PRODUCT 


ively the idea that the thing I sell is a money¬ 
maker, and that, of course is the impression I wish 
to coIivey. ,, 

This salesman declares that he sells his 
machines by literally “making the merchant's 
mouth water for crisp, tender flakes of snow white 
popcorn, flavored with pure creamery butter.” 
In other words, he makes the prospect hungry 
for popcorn, and then proceeds to convince him 
there are plently of folks right in his own home 
town who will respond to this same hidden hun¬ 
ger, and trade their nickels, dimes and quarters 
for fresh, delicious popcorn. 

From first to last this salesman says as little as 
possible about the machine itself. He has found 
that displaying a retouched photograph of a cold, 
lifeless piece of machinery is not nearly so im¬ 
pressive as painting a verbal picture of what the 
machine will do in the prospect's own store. 

We could continue indefinitely quoting one in¬ 
stance after another of aggressive, modern-to-the- 
minute salesmen who are selling the product of 
the product—and making the idea pay splendid 
dividends. But it is not our purpose to fill this 
chapter with endless detailed description. Our 
mission is rather to stimulate thought; to suggest 
by inference what you may do in your line, and to 
impress as forcibly as possible the importance of 
the service element in present-day merchandising. 


45 






















The Gentle Art of Keeping 
Human 

A NY mail-order man will tell you that, beyond 
a doubt, his biggest handicap is the lack 
L of the human element in his presen¬ 
tation. He has the right goods at the right price. 
He has fine half-tone illustrations and compelling 
copy. But he hasn’t a handclasp and a friendly 
smile—and these factors count for more than 
some of us fully realize. 

The average young man just starting out on the 
road is quite apt to get the impression that selling 
goods is a very grave and serious undertaking. It 
is. So serious in fact, that one should not make 
it more difficult by taking it too seriously. That 
sounds paradoxical of course, but it is simply 
another way of saying that the salesman who goes 
about with an exaggerated idea of the importance 
of himself and his job, is working under a 
handicap. 

There is another common type of salesman—the 
man who tries so hard to be a good fellow that he 
rather overdoes the job. He is continually going 
about slapping folks on the back, laughing heart- 


47 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 


ily and asking about the “howness” of “every 
little thing.” 

Neither of these types is a wirlwind success 
in selling. But somewhere between the chap who 
is pinchhitting for Atlas, with the weight of the 
world on his shoulders, and the boob who hasn't 
yet learned that laughing-stock pays no dividends, 
is the genuine human being, even as you and I— 
and you can bank on it, he is the man who is 
selling the goods! 

There is nothing strange or weird about this 
condition. Every normal human being naturally 
likes to buy from other normal human beings— 
men with the same general impulses as himself. 
That is why it is so vitally important for the man 
on the road to keep human. 

Telling of his own early experiences, a veteran 
salesman says, “Years ago, before I ever set out 
to sell goods I had some very decided ideas as to 
just how the trick was done. The ideal sales¬ 
man, according to my youthful conception should 
be a very superior person, on intimate terms with 
Webster's Unabridged and the “How to Behave in 
Public” column of the Ladies Home Companion. 

“It seems almost incredible now, but this actu¬ 
ally was the lovely theory I held back in the days 
when I dreamed about ‘going on the road.’ And 


48 


THE GENTLE ART OF KEEPING HUMAN 

on the morning I started out to sell goods, as the 
train sped me to my first potential customer I 
carefully rehearsed my little sales story for the 
forty-seventh time, even to the smallest detail. 
It was a perfectly good spiel, too. Better than I 
could prepare now. 

“Then, after I reached the city destined for my 
debut, I took my courage and a street car and 
went to call on the buyer. I was all primed to 
walk in on a representative business man, with a 
brisk air and a shoe-brush moustache. You know 
the kind. But the fellow who occupied the revolv¬ 
ing chair (and by virtue of that fact was rec¬ 
ognized as the boss) weighed in the neighborhood 
of 250 pounds. There was nothing brisk about 
him. And he wore calico sleeve-protectors just 
like old man Hoffman in the express office back 
home. He grinned. 

“And I forgot the darned speech—every word 
of it. Then—I don't know to this day why I did it— 
but I simply plunged in and told that buyer he 
was the first man I had ever tried to sell, and that 
I had forgotten my speech—and the whole sad 
story. 

“The buyer laughed, and gave me a cigar—and 
an order. Also he remarked that I was the most 
refreshing thing he had seen in the drummer line 
that season. And he begged me, above all things, 


49 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 


not to let the curse of sordid commercialism fas¬ 
ten itself upon me before my next trip around. 

“That day, as I sat in the railroad station, and 
smoked the buyer's cigar, I spent quite a bit of 
time considering the things he had said. And the 
result was that Fve been forgetting set speeches 
ever since, and handling each prospect as a real 
human being.” 

Speaking of set speeches, there seems to be 
some slight misunderstanding as to just what may 
be termed a “set-speech.” 

My own definition of a set speech is that it is a 
more-or-less-cut-and-dried oration, previously 
arranged and rehearsed, which the salesman uses 
indiscriminately on prospect “A,” “B,” or “C.” 

Now, one of these set-speeches might work out 
fine, if the prospect would just sit still in his chair, 
and let you finish, your “Friends-Romans-And 
Countrymen” oration with gestures, and then 
sign up on the dotted line, quietly and sensibly, 
like it says in the book. But he won't do it. The 
typical prospect will insist upon breaking in to 
ask a few questions now and then. And questions 
are very embarrassing to the salesman who has 
a set speech to get off his chest. They get him 
away from the beaten path, and it is exceedingly 
difficult to get back again. 


50 


THE GENTLE ART OF KEEPING HUMAN 

But the biggest objection to a set speech is that 
the prospect can tell, the moment you draw a deep 
breath and start in on him, that you are giving 
a set speech. And he resents your action. It 
makes him “sore” to think that you are trying to 
sell him with a phonograph-record oration that 
you have used over and over again on all kinds 
and descriptions of human beings. Your prospect 
reasons, subconsciously at least, that he is an 
individual and entitled to some individual 
consideration. 

And he is right. For selling goods is so largely 
a personal matter that it behooves us to put as 
much personality into the job as we possibly can. 
It is these little individual touches, worked into a 
canvass that make and break sales records. 

I certainly do not mean to infer, in denouncing 
the set-speech, that a salesman should not have 
some stock arguments on hand. Most of us are 
continually trying out new “talking points” for 
our proposition, and working them into some sort 
of standardized form. 

We know in a general way that at a certain 
point in our presentation the prospect will quite 
probably raise some objection to our price. Ex¬ 
perience has taught us the most effective “come¬ 
back” for that objection. We therefore make use 
of that particular argument, not in a sing-song, 


51 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 

set speech manner, but just as casually as though 
we had thought it all out especially for this one 
occasion. 

But even these brief “set-speeches” should 
be individualized and personalized wherever 
possible, so they will fit our prospect like a 
well-tailored glove. For the closer we make our 
argument fit the man we are trying to sell, the 
harder it is for him to wiggle out, you know. 


52 


“How Much Does It 
Cost?” 

T HERE is one thing that buyers of every 
class—old and young, fat and thin—seem 
to have in common. And that is an in¬ 
satiable desire to know the price of the commodity 
that is being offered. 

Probably more aspiring young salesmen have 
met their Waterloo in handling the problem of 
Price than in dealing with all of the other sales 
resistances combined. In fact, many a seasoned 
veteran has been floored by the simple question, 
“How much does it cost?” asked at an inoppor¬ 
tune moment. 

“There is just one way to handle the situation” 
declares an unusually successful salesman, “and 
that is never under any circumstances to tell the 
price until you are good and ready to tell it. Just 
as soon as the prospect gets the upper hand and 
begins to run the interview you are done for. 

“Here's the way I get around the price 
bugaboo. 

“If a prospect breaks in on my talk to ask 'But 
what does this thing cost?' I reply without the 


53 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 


slightest hesitation, That is a matter which I will 
take up with you in detail in a few minutes/ I 
then proceed with my canvass. If the prospect re¬ 
peats his inquiry as to price, I reply with a frank 
counter question, ‘Mr. Thompson, are you really 
more interested in knowing the price of this de¬ 
vice than in learing what it will do for you ? After 
all, price isn’t the important point, is it? If you 
could buy this machine for a five dollar bill the 
price would be too high if the device failed to 
make good, for you, on your particular work. On 
the other hand, suppose you had to pay a thousand 
dollars in cold cash for this machine, but that it 
actually saved twice that amount for you in your 
office, in a single year’s time. Then the price 
would become an insignificant matter. Now, Mr. 
Thompson, the price of this machine of mine is 
neither five dollars or one thousand dollars. I 
will go into that matter with you just as soon as 
we see exactly what this machine can do for you.’ 

“I find that an explanation such as this has 
the desired effect in 90% of the cases. The pros¬ 
pect readily agrees and I continue with my ex¬ 
planation of the machine. In rare instances, how¬ 
ever, I am interrupted a third time with an im^ 
patient interrogation as to price In such cases I 
simply come right out and say, ‘Mr. Thompson, I 
have been telling this sales story for more than 
ten years. I believe I know how to tell it so that 


54 


“HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?” 

you will get a thorough idea of what my machine 
is and what it will do. Now I don't want to be 
stubborn about the matter, but we may as well 
understand each other. In justice to myself and 
my house I am going to tell this story my way, or 
I am not going to tell it at all. Which shall it be?' 

“Usually the prospect declares, ‘You win; go 
ahead and spin the yarn your own way!' But 
sometimes I've had mule-headed men insist that 
I name the price or close the interview. In such 
instances, I simply pick up my demonstrator and 
make as dignified an exit as possible. 

“It took me years of blundering along to learn 
that I positively cannot sell my machine if I men¬ 
tion price before I have fully explained the profit 
possibilities. It is not that I am afraid of my 
price. I am not. My machine is reasonably priced 
priced for the work it will do . When the proper 
time comes to tell the cost of my machine, I reveal 
the price tag courageously; in fact I display just a 
trace of pride that so remarkable a machine may 
be sold at so low a price. But all this is after I 
have sold the prospect my machine; after I have 
made him want it at any cost. At this point in 
the canvass the price, properly presented, strikes 
the average prospect as decidedly reasonable. Ten 
minutes earlier a simple statement to the effect 
that ‘The price of the machine is $125.00' would 


55 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 

have descended like a vertiable wet blanket to 
smother the steadily-rising enthusiasm of the 
prospect. 

“Everything depends upon when and how you 
talk price.” 

Some of us may look upon this method of handl¬ 
ing the price situation as a bit radical. Admittedly 
it requires a man of unusual personality to “put 
it over.” 

Unless we are extremely tactful the average 
prospect is apt to get the idea that we are at¬ 
tempting to conceal the price. And this almost 
invariably results disastrously. There are, how¬ 
ever, a number of ways of dodging the price 
issue, without appearing to do so. 

When a prospect asks, “What's the price of 
these?” a hardware specialty salesman answers, 
“Well, Mr. Blake, you would hardly believe it, but 
I can sell you that item at a price that will enable 
you to make clear profit of 60%. And remember 
it is a genuine ‘Quality-Pledge' tool.” Then the 
salesman goes right ahead with his “quality” talk, 
having satisfied the buyer without actually saying 
“The price of the tool, to the dealer is $1.20 each 
in dozen lots.” 

“My machine really costs you nothing at all,” 
replies a salesman who calls on factory and shop 


56 


“HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?” 

executives, “because it actually pays for itself with¬ 
in a year in increased production and saving of 
labor. After that the saving it makes is pure vel¬ 
vet. Let me show you why that is possible.” That 
method of handling the query soon puts him back 
on the main track again. 

“I can deliver these booklets to you, complete 
in every detail at a price of less than four cents 
each,” says a certain printer, when he has reason 
to believe that the gross price on say a 25,000 run, 
might prove a bit staggering to the prospective 
customer. 

One vital point that so many of us fail to fully 
realize is that a price is never high or low except 
by comparison. The psychology of comparison 
cannot be better explained than by presenting the 
actual methods of a successful salesman. This 
man is selling a combined peanut roasting 
machine and display case for the nuts. 

This is a much simpler and lower priced ma¬ 
chine than the usual peanut roaster. The sales¬ 
man makes the most of this advantage and leads 
up to the price with true dramatic effect. Two or 
three times during the early stages of his canvass 
he makes a special point of mentioning the fact 
that John Jones in the next block is making a big 
success with his thousand dollar peanut and pop 


57 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 


corn machine. He also makes the point, as he goes 
along that peanut and pop corn wagons, selling 
at from six hundred to three thousand dollars, are 
mighty big money makers. Thus when the sales¬ 
man actually mentions the price of his machine— 
$150.00—the prospect has a favorable reaction. 
The salesman has been building up the proper 
background all along. The psychology of price 
comparison has done the work. 

But it is not always smooth sailing. This sales¬ 
man is placed at a decided disadvantage in that he 
is obliged to sell from photographs, and these do 
not do full justice to the machine. At first glance 
it looks very much like an ordinary show-case. 
And then there are some prospects who balk at 
even the $150.00 price. “Do you mean to say that 
you charge $150.00 for that little old thing?” is 
a not infrequent query. “Why there's nothing to 
it. I could make one of 'em myself for $25.00.” 

Now, of course the prospect could do no such 
thing. He is simply “talking through his hat”. 
But the salesman merely smiles with good-natured 
tolerance. “You say that $150.00 is a lot of money 
for a little machine like this one of mine. Well, 
sir, here's a watch which cost nearly as much as 
that machine of mine, and yet I can slip it into my 
vest pocket! Size, after all, hasn't so much to do 
with the price. It is the ‘works' that make the 


58 


“HOW MUCH DOES IT COST ?” 

cost mount up. This photograph doesn't show 
the mechanical part of my machine. There are 
electrical heating elements, warming pans, the 
electric flasher, conduits for the wiring. And of 
course all wiring is done in a thorough manner to 
meet the requirements of the underwriters. Then 
consider the plate glass. If you don't think that 
costs money just heave a brick through your show 
window, and see how deep you will have to dig 
into your bank roll to replace it. 

“But let's forget all this for a moment. Just 
suppose that we had a tree out back of the factory 
that grew these machines, and all we had to do was 
pull one off and send it to you. Why even then 
we couldn't possibly make more than $150.00 on a 
machine. Now, I am going to show you how you 
can actually make double that amount with this 
machine the very first year.” 

From that point the salesman goes right back 
over his proposition from a new angle, and sells 
the prospect again on the service which the 
machine renders, and the profit possibilities. 

The psychology of price comparison may be ef¬ 
fectively extended even to unrelated lines. A sales¬ 
man who, by the way, also sells a peanut-vending 
device—a glass globe for retailing salted nuts— 
has a very effective comparison. 


59 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 


The device frequently is placed on the cigar 
counter in drug, grocery and general stores. The 
salesman takes his cue from this fact, and when 
the merchant brings up the point that “It isn’t 
worth while bothering with a little thing like that” 
or “There aren’t enough folks who buy nuts” he 
has a ready answer. 

“Certainly it’s a little thing” he agrees, “but it’s 
the little things that are big money makers. My 
device takes up only this much room (indicating 
a space of two square feet) here on your cigar 
counter. It costs but a fraction of what you paid 
for that cigar show case, yet I am going to show 
you how it will bring you in a clear profit of ten 
times as much per square foot of space.” 

If the merchant seems a bit doubtful as to the 
potential market an argument is developed some¬ 
what along this line: 

“You sell tobacco don’t you, Mr. Williams?” 

The merchant does. 

“There must be eight or ten other men in town 
selling tobacco.” 

The merchant counts up. There are eleven 
dealers in tobacco. 

“All these men are getting some trade, of 
course. But in spite of this competition you are 
selling tobacco. You sell fully $50.00 worth a 
week don’t you?” 


60 


“HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?” 

“Why I sell at least $15.00 worth a day” de¬ 
clares the merchant a bit pridefully. 

“Fine!” says the salesman “Then your tobacco 
sales run nearly $100.00 a week. And yet how 
wide is your market? Of course you don’t 
sell cigars to women. This means that right 
at the start you’ll have to count out every other 
adult person who comes into your store. Now, 
I undertsand there’s a pretty strict law in this 
state against selling tobacco to minors. You 
don’t take any chances, of course. This means 
that you don’t sell tobacco to children or young 
people. Then who are your customers? You don’t 
sell tobacco to the pastor of that church across 
the street do you? You don’t sell to the deacon or 
the elders either. Statistics show that only 60% of 
the men use tobacco. They represent the sole 
market, and it is divided between twelve retailers 
in this town. Now let’s be conservative. Let’s say 
that the other eleven do only one-half as well as 
you. That means $50.00 a week each or let’s say 
a total of $650.00 a week in tobacco sales. 

“Now, don’t you think that with every man, 
woman and child a possible customer for peanuts, 
and no competition to speak of, you ought to sell 
at least $25.00 worth a week? 

The customer agrees that he really should be 
able to do that well. 


61 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 

“Undoubtedly you must have an investment of 
at least $1,000.00 in tobacco” the salesman con¬ 
tinues, resuming his comparison, “ as against a 
stock of three or four dollars worth of peanuts. 
And now I am going to show you how $25.00 a 
week in peanut sales means more clear profit than 
you make in selling $100.00 worth of tobacco.” 

But every experienced salesman knows that 
even after the prospect has committed himself in 
the belief that he can make money with a device, 
the sale is by no means assured. For your man 
is quite frequently inclined to feel that he is 
“getting along well enough as it is.” 

To overcome this condition and dynamite the 
prospect's indifference, the salesman of a certain 
specialty first shows that a clear profit of a cer¬ 
tain definite sum, usually about $10.00 a week is 
easily possible with his device. 

If the merchant is not sufficiently impressed 
with this showing, and still feels that the price is 
too high the salesman proceeds with his canvass 
and a few moments later asks casually, “Mr. 
Smith, how much rent do you pay for this 
building?” 

The amount is $40.00 a month. 

“Then you are paying $480.00 a year for an 
empty room. The amount of money you make de- 


62 


“HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?” 

pends upon the use you make of this floor space. 
Now I am offering you an opportunity to utilize 
a few square feet of floor space and thereby make 
more clear money than any entire department in 
your store. 

“If your landlord called here today and offered 
to sell you this property for $2,000.00, would you 
buy it? Of course you would. You would borrow 
the money if necessary to take advantage of the 
opportunity. You would gladly pay $2,000.00 for 
a piece of property that would make or save you 
$480.00 a year, and know that you had made a 
mighty good investment. Yet you hesitate to in¬ 
vest $35.00 as a down-payment on a piece of prop¬ 
erty that will pay the rent on your store, and pay 
for itself at the same time. For as I have shown 
you, this machine will actually make a profit of 
$10.00 a week. 

“Just think of adding $520.00 a year to your 
income! Why in five years, not counting com¬ 
pound interest on your money, this would amount 
to $2,600.00—enough to buy this building, send 
your boy through school or get you a good motor 
car.” 

In connection with any remarks regarding 
price, it must be borne in mind that no matter 
what your price may be it is only human nature 
to declare that it is “too high.” As we pointed 


63 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 


out in a previous chapter, the buyer is continu¬ 
ally on his guard. Instinct cautions him against 
anything which means an expenditure of money. 
A sale is never possible until you overcome this 
resistance and make the prospect want the prod¬ 
uct, commodity or service more than he wants the 
money required to purchase it. 


64 


Prospects Who Say, “I 
Haven’t the Money” 

I NTERESTED in our proposition, but 
haven't the money to spend just now.” 

I would like to know how many thou¬ 
sands of times that little notation has been set 
down on salesmen's daily report blanks. It's such 
a good, convenient excuse—as final and impass¬ 
able as a stone wall. If a man hasn't the money, 
why of course he can't buy! Simple isn't it ? 

It is just because of its very finality that the 
prospect has learned to make frequent use of the 
“no money” dodge. Experience has taught him 
that the average salesman has no answer for that 
argument. And yet scarcely once in ten times is 
the prospect's excuse literally true. He has money. 
We all have more or less money that we can spend. 

When a prospect tells you that he hasn't the 
money to buy whatever you are selling, the 
chances are that you simply haven't convinced 
him it is worth his while to exchange his money 
for your article. He could scrape up the cash 
all right, but he lacks the conviction that leads to 
a signed order. 


65 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 


Faced with a condition of this kind the sales¬ 
man has an opportunity to show the sort of stuff he 
is made of. He can do one of two things,—either 
pack up his sample case and thank the gentleman 
kindly for his time and interest, or he can edge 
his chair over a bit closer to the prospect, and get 
right down to the real job of coming to a definite 
understanding. 

'‘Why of course you haven't the money to in¬ 
stall this machinery" agrees a salesman who has 
been successful in selling to large manufacturing 
concerns, “and that is exactly why you have got 
to buy it now . I know how business conditions 
are with you. Why do you know that one of the 
biggest concerns in your line has scarcely earned 
a dollar in six months ? Under ordinary conditions 
they would have been in the bankruptcy courts. 
But they have managed to keep things going be¬ 
cause of the savings they have made in the cost of 
manufacturing. They are making their money 
from these savings, rather than in the normal 
way. You can do the very same thing with this 
No. 16 machine of ours. Now, here's the way it 
works out—" Then the salesman shows them 
how it does work out—and secures an order from 
the company that had “no money to spend for 
equipment". 

A man who is handling book-keeping machines 
in a territory where a considerable amount of edu- 


66 


PROSPECTS WHO SAY, “1 HAVEN’T THE MONEY” 

cation along efficiency lines is necessary, makes 
sales on the argument that if you really need an 
article you are paying for it whether you buy it 
or not. The thought is not new, of course, but he 
hammers it home very effectively. 

“You tell me that you haven’t the money to pay 
for a book-keeping machine, Mr. Spencer,” this 
salesman says, “but you are paying for a machine 
right now. Do you see the man over at that desk 
posting ledger accounts by hand? At the lowest 
estimate, he could do a third more work with a 
machine. He is only two-thirds efficient now. Yet 
you are each day paying for full efficiency. One 
third of that man’s salary each Saturday night 
goes to pay for a book-keeping machine and the 
tragedy of it is that though you pay for the ma¬ 
chine ten times over you will never get it at that 
rate. Now, how soon are you going to put a stop 
to this waste, and really get something for your 
money? One third of your book-keeper’s weekly 
wages is going to waste. Yet you can buy a book¬ 
keeping machine on monthly installments of less 
than half of that sum.” 

“The average man has just so much money to 
spend” reasons a hardware salesman, “and the 
art of selling goods is to persuade him to spend 
that money with you, rather than with the other 
fellow.” And then this salesman goes on to tell 


67 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 


of an interesting call he made upon the owner of 
a $5,000.00 home, in a suburban district. He was 
surprised to note an ordinary base burner stove 
in the sitting room, surrounded by the most ex¬ 
pensive furniture and fixtures. Being an old 
friend of the family, he asked frankly why they 
had never installed a furnace, in such a fine mod¬ 
ern home. The lady of the house smiled a bit 
guiltily as she explained, “Well do you know, we 
have saved up for a furnace three different times, 
but each time somebody came along and sold us 
something else!” 

“Somebody came along and sold us something 
else!” There's a confession that every salesman 
would do well to carefully consider. The prospect 
who declares up and down that he “hasn't the 
money” is probably saving a snug little sum for a 
special purpose. It's a big part of your job to un¬ 
sell him on this object by more thoroughly selling 
him on your particular proposition. Instead of 
taking seriously the prospect's protestation of 
poverty, why don't you be the one who “comes 
along and sells him something else?” 

“I never give the prospect a chance to say, “I 
haven't the money” says a salesman who sells an 
educational course. “I make it a special point to 
anticipate his objection, if I feel that price is 
going to be a factor. 'Now, Mr. Rankin,' I say to 


68 


PROSPECTS WHO SAY, “I HAVEN’T THE MONEY” 

the prospect, you probably won’t care to pay for 
the course all at one time. I find that very few 
people do. You can simply hand me five dollars 
now with your enrollment, and send the institute 
five dollars each month, as you progress with your 
studies.’ Thus, by simply taking for granted that 
the prospect has five dollars to pay down, and 
can pay five dollars a month, I don’t leave him much 
ground to stand on when it comes to price objec¬ 
tion. I find this a much more satisfactory method 
than mentioning the price first, and bringing in 
the installment proposition as an after thought. 
The mere mention of $83.00 has a depressing 
effect on the prospect. He immediately begins to 
think, ‘Oh, I can’t afford that!’ But talk to him 
in terms of $5.00 a month and he’s your man.” 

And in conclusion just a word of warning: 
Never let the prospect think that you think he 
hasn’t any money, or that he can’t afford what you 
have to sell. The more confidence you show in 
him, the harder you make it for him to protest 
that he can’t pay. 


69 






The Man Who Is “Too 
Busy to Talk” 

A SERIOUS mistake that a great many young 
salesmen make” says an “old hand” on the 
road, “is to plead with the gruff buyer who 
is ‘too busy to talk/ Sometimes in their hysterical 
eagerness to show their line, these youngsters all 
but get down on their knees and betg for “just a 
few minutes time/ 

“Of course that's all wrong. I believe I can 
safely say that not once in ten times will a sale 
result from an interview granted under such con¬ 
ditions. In first place, the chances are fully two 
to one that the prospect is bluffing. He really 
isn't too busy to talk, but is simply using that ap¬ 
parently air-proof alibi as an excuse for getting 
rid of the salesman. Therefore the salesman who 
continues to plead for ‘a chance' is only building 
up an additional handicap. 

“It should always be borne in mind that the 
prospect who gives an audience, against his own 
free will, already has his mind made up not to 
buy. If the man who is ‘too busy' to talk finally 
agrees to spare a few minutes for the persistent 


71 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 


salesman to plead his case, he does so merely with 
the idea of getting rid of the man as soon as pos¬ 
sible, and getting back to work. He fully realizes 
that he has the upper hand, and he doesn’t hesi¬ 
tate to show it. The salesman is present under 
sufferance. The prospect meanwhile waits with 
the pleasurable anticipation of martyr, for an 
opportune moment to cry ‘Thumbs down!’ 

“Selling goods under such conditions is not an 
enviable undertaking. We men who have been in 
the selling game fori a few years have learned this. 
And so, when we meet up with one of those ‘too 
busy’ prospects, our cue is to be just a little bit 
more independent than he. 

“Take my own case for example. My usual re¬ 
sponse is something along this line, ‘I can readily 
see, Mr. Blake, that it probably would be incon¬ 
venient for you to go into the matter in detail this 
morning. But you of course appreciate that our 
proposition is entirely too important to crowd 
into a few moments’ discussion. I will call again 
when you have more time at your disposal. I want 
particularly to tell you about the experience of 
William Randolph & Co. They saved $ 862 . in less 
than two months by installing our Universal 
System.’ 

“That last remark is always very carefully 
planned to interest the prospect in spite of him- 


72 


THE MAN WHO IS “TOO BUSY TO TALK” 

self. I make it a point to mention a firm in the 
same line of business, and if possible, one with 
which he is personally acquainted. 

“As likely as not the prospect wall ‘bite' and 
ask for the full particulars. Of course I then have 
him just where I want him. On this little trick I 
have held men for two hours when, not five 
minutes before, they had told me they hadn't a 
moment to spare. 

“And even though my man doesn't respond to 
the bait, and invite me immediately to tell my 
tale, I am able to leave him in just the right frame 
of mind. He makes a subconscious note that I 
have an interesting story to tell him, and the next 
time I drop in, he will strain a point to see me. 

“Naturally I always make an effort to set a time 
for a “call-back' on busy prospects. I never ask 
‘What would be a convenient time for me to call ?' 
because that almost invariably elicits the reply,‘0, 
drop in any time.' On the contrary, I take out my 
note book and make a great show of checking up 
my appointments. ‘Shall we make it Wednesday 
at three o'clock?' I ask, and if that meets the 
approval of the prospect, I make a note of the 
appointment, in his presence. This gives him to 
understand that I mean business, and expect him 
to see me at that time." 


73 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 


This salesman’s use of the name of a firm in 
the same line of business, as the prospect, as an 
interest-catcher, brings to mind a somewhat 
similar case. 

A salesman selling check protectors in the 
southwest found many retail merchants either in¬ 
different or “too busy to talk.” For a long time 
he made little headway. Then one day he heard 
that a cashier in one of the largest wholesale dry 
goods houses in that section had succeeded in rais¬ 
ing a number of checks sent into the house by 
merchants in payment of their bills, and had 
absconded with the money. By a bit of clever 
sleuthing this salesman succeeded in getting all 
of the facts. 

Then he was ready for the merchant. “Do you 
do business with Blodgett Bros. & Company?” he 
asked. It was a safe question, for almost every 
merchant in that part of the country had an 
account with the house. 

When the customer answered in the affirma¬ 
tive, the salesman proceeded to tell the tale of the 
cashier and the raised checks, gently leading up 
to the moral—a check protector. 

No merchant was “too busy” to listen to that 
story! Here was something brought right home 
to him; an object lesson almost in his own 


74 


THE MAN WHO IS “TOO BUSY TO TALK” 

backyard. And it had greater effect than a dozen 
accounts of more sensational frauds in New York, 
Boston or Tacoma. 


A flour salesman covering a middle-western 
territory tells of an amusing experience with a 
“too-busy-to-talk” prospect—a small-town baker 
upon whom he had been calling at regular inter¬ 
vals for a long time without making any definite 
headway. 

On this particular occasion the salesman found 
his prospect in an especially ill humor. Both his 
baker and store girl had “forgotten” to come to 
work and he was trying to do his baking and take 
care of the store at the same time. 

“Well, I said to myself, ‘This is not the time to 
try to sell flour' declared the salesman in telling 
the story, “but I immediately saw that I was face- 
to-face with a wonderful chance to build up some 
permanent good-will with that baker. So without 
a word I took off my hat and coat, rolled up my 
sleeves and pitched right in to help get the morn¬ 
ing's baking out of the way. 

“When we finished the job, I washed up, put 
on my coat and told the baker that I hoped on my 
next trip I would not find him in a similar pre¬ 
dicament. Just as I was on the point of leaving, 


75 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 

he called after me, 'Say, young fellow, what is the 
price of your flour ?’. 

“I told him with as much indifference as I could 
assume. 'All right’ he replied, 'send me a carload 
of 250 barrels right away.’ ” 

Many salesmen, calling on the smaller trade 
have had similar experiences. Some of them have 
opened very attractive accounts, largely because 
they weren’t too "stuck up” to take off their coats 
and help out in a pinch. Accounts opened under 
such conditions have a way of sticking, season 
after season. A few minutes spent in working 
side-by-side with the prospect is worth hours of 
counter conversation when it comes to really 
getting aquainted. 


“The-Man-Who-is-Too-Busy-to-Talk” is under 
no conditions an easy or pleasant proposition to 
handle. But you are bound to meet up with him— 
and others of his kind—and the way you handle 
these "tough ones” is the real test of your sales¬ 
manship. 

Not only the man who is "too busy” but the 
grouch, the foolish-minded, the bargain-hunter 
and a dozen other types must be dealt with. 

You can let such people get on your nerves, and 
so become a candidate for a padded cell, with a 


76 


THE MAN WHO IS “TOO BUSY TO TALK* 


piece of string and some spools to play with—or 
you can say to yourself, "Here is where I have 
a good time pitting my superior intelligence 
against this man—I'll make him like me, and sell 
him.” 

When you come to think it over, you can see 
that there really wouldn't be much use for sales¬ 
men, if all customers were good-humored, and 
knew just what they wanted. 

As one salesman puts it: "If you want to 
sharpen a steel knife, you rub the edge with some¬ 
thing harder—wits are sharpened the same way.” 




77 
























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Making Up the Other 
Man’s Mind 

A MAN who has been selling goods for more 
than twenty years declares that he 
stumbled upon one of the fundamentals 
of salesmanship long ago, when, as a youngster, he 
became employed in the shoe department of a 
men's furnishing store. “All of the other sales¬ 
men in the department" he says, “were older men. 
Naturally the customers had more confidence in 
their ability and would ask for these older clerks 
to wait on them. This not only hurt my feelings, 
but my sales record as well. I made up my mind 
to do something about it. ‘How/ I asked myself, 
‘can I gain the confidence of the customer?' 

“Then one day my chance came. An elderly gen¬ 
tleman entered the store and asked for a certain 
clerk. The man in question chanced to be off the 
floor at the time, and I asked the gentleman to 
permit me to serve him. 

“My first move was to bring out two shoes, one 
I felt sure the customer wouldn't like, and one 
I knew would not fit him. I showed him the first 
shoe, told him it was very popular, but that I did 


79 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 


not believe he would like it, stating briefly my 
reasons for that belief. Then I put the second 
shoe on his foot and before he had a chance to say 
a word, I exclaimed, ‘Oh, that shoe doesn’t fit!’ 
The customer declared that it felt ‘pretty good/ 
Then I showed him just where the shoe failed to 
fit, and tried on one that I knew would prove 
exactly right. 

“The old gentleman looked up and smiled with 
evident satisfaction, ‘Young man,’ he said, ‘you 
must have been selling shoes for a long time. You 
surely do know your business/ I could have sold 
that man anything after that. Because by show¬ 
ing him something that he didn’t want, and tell¬ 
ing him why he didn’t want it, I had prepared 
him to believe me when I showed him the thing I 
really wanted to sell. I had won the confidence of 
the customer. And as we all know, that is the 
paramount point in closing the sale. 

“I have tried this same sales strategy time and 
again, in selling a wide variety of merchandise, 
and it always brings good results.” 

Whether or not it is practicable for us to make 
use of the method employed by this particular 
salesman, we must agree with him as to the im¬ 
portance which he places on securing the confi¬ 
dence of the prospect. We had something to say 


80 


MAKING UP THE OTHER MAN’S MIND 


on this point in an earlier chapter, but it is well 
worth stressing again. 

Salesmanship, reduced to the simplest terms, is 
merely the art of making up the other man's 
mind. If folks were naturally in the buying frame 
of mind, most of us could stay at home, prop our 
feet on a collection of sample cases, and write 
picture-post cards to our prospects, asking them 
to send us orders. 

But the truth is that the average person is 
averse to buying anything. The moment you go 
to a man with a proposition involving the expen¬ 
diture of money, his natural reaction is, “I don't 
want to have anything to do with it." His mind 
is all made up to hold onto his money. If you are 
the right kind of a salesman, selling the right kind 
of a proposition, and employing the right tactics, 
you will unmake that man's mind, and make it up 
in your way. Getting the prospect to think along 
parallel lines with you iji your one big job. 

“I find that if I can get a prospect to see things 
as I see them—if I can get him to agree with me 
point by point, as we go along," says another 
salesman, “the sale is almost certain. The best 
way I have found to do this is to illustrate my 
points just as graphically as possible. 

“I am selling a small display case, containing 
novelties. My sales are to general stores, where 



O' 


81 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 


space is more or less at a premium. An important 
point, therefore, is that my case produces big 
profits, yet takes up only a small amount of space. 

“Formerly I used to tell the merchant that my 
case required only three square feet of counter 
space. But the statement didn't seem to register 
with full force. Few men could instantly visual¬ 
ize three square feet of space. Now I have a better 
plan. At the proper time, I produce a bit of 
brown paper, unfold it, and place it on the counter, 
with the remark, ‘That paper, Mr. White, is the 
exact size of our display case.' 

“The merchant is impressed. Here is something 
he can see with his own eyes. He begins to shift 
the paper about from place to place, determining 
just where he could place the display case to the 
best advantage. When he starts to do that I know 
that I have gained an important point”. 

A salesman selling a direct-by-mail advertising 
service to banks has a plan which he declares is 
a wonder-worker for him. His first move on 
entering a town is to pick the one bank he wishes 
to sell. As a rule this bank uses newspaper ad¬ 
vertising. The salesman buys two copies of the 
paper in which the bank's advertisment appears. 
He goes through these papers carefully cutting 
out all advertisements, taking page one in the first 
paper, page two in the second, and so on, in order 


82 


MAKING UP THE OTHER MAN’S MIND 

to get a complete set of ads. These he pastes on 
one large sheet, taking care to hide the bank's ad¬ 
vertisement in some obscure corner. The same 
plan is followed with the text, matter which he 
cuts into single column widths and pastes on a 
continuous strip. 

Then the salesman is ready to call on his pros¬ 
pect. Usually an interview has been previously 
arranged. The salesman walks into the private 
office of the banker, unrolls the great sheet of 
advertising, removes a rubber band from his 
bundle of text matter, and releases yard after 
yard of newspaper copy. 

As the banker looks up bewildered, the sales¬ 
man begins to talk. He explains that this repre¬ 
sents the copy from a single issue of the local 
newspaper; that the banker's small advertisement 
must compete for attention not only with larger 
and more pretentious displays, but with columns 
of text in which the reader is interested, and for 
which he buys the paper. Of course this gives an 
ideal opening for an intensive talk on direct-by- 
mail advertising, where the message is placed in 
the prospect's mailbox, and goes straight to him, 
with no disturbing or distracting elements. 

Under ordinary circumstances the banker prob¬ 
ably would evidence very little interest in the 
salesman's proposition, but the great bundle of 


83 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 


newspaper copy sets him to thinking, and helps 
to incline his mind toward a favorable consider¬ 
ation of direct advertising. 

“I find it isn’t enough to tell a man that he 
can make $500.00 a year profit with my machine,” 
says another successful salesman, “I must go a 
step farther and paint a picture of what that 
$500.00 will mean to him. By judicious question¬ 
ing I find out just what the prospect wishes most 
to accomplish. Then I show him how this extra 
$500.00 a year will help him make his dreams come 
true. If he wants to enlarge his business. I point out 
that $500.00 a year additional capital will be a big 
help. If he wants to buy a home, I point, out that 
he can make a payment with the first year’s 
profits, and pay the balance from year to year 
from the same source. If he has children I point 
out that $500.00 a year will go a long way toward 
assuring them an adequate education. 

“In the final analysis, the prospect makes up 
his mind to buy my machine, not because it will 
earn $10.00 a week or better, but because it pro¬ 
vides a means of accomplishing some one definite 
thing. It is the old story. Money means nothing 
except for what it will bring us.” 

One of the very best ways to make up the other 
man’s mind is to let the merchandise talk for itself. 


84 


MAKING UP THE OTHER MAN’S MIND 

Have you ever watched an expert novelty sales¬ 
man at work? At exactly the right moment, he 
hands the article to the prospect. And he does it 
for a very definite purpose. He wants the pros¬ 
pect to touch it, to hold it in his hands, to feel for 
a moment the thrill of possession. Just as soon as 
the novelty is in the prospect's hands, the can¬ 
vasser exerts his high-pressure salesmanship to 
keep it there. His big battle has been won, and 
eight times out of ten, a sale quickly follows. 

“ I always try to get a man into a car and 
seated at the steering wheel before I begin my 
real sales talk,” says a certain automobile sales¬ 
man. “I find that a man standing off to one side 
and viewing a slick and shiny show room car, is 
apt to be in a more or less 'standoffish' frame of 
mind. But just as soon as I get that man into the 
car, playing with the gears, and levers and things, 
his attitude completely changes. He is already 
visualizing the car as his own. The stronger I can 
instill this feeling of ownership, the easier it is to 
sell the car.” 

Another automobile salesman tells of an ex¬ 
perience in attempting to sell a car to a promi¬ 
nent physician of the city. Conventional methods 
proved futile. The doctor was fairly well satis¬ 
fied with his present car, and would not talk 
"trade in”. 


85 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 


Knowing that the physician made a practice of 
going for a drive with his wife each Sunday after- 
non, the salesman, by using a bit of diplomacy, 
prevailed upon the medical man to accept the loan 
of a car, on a certain pleasant Sunday. This prac¬ 
tice was continued for a number of successive Sun¬ 
day afternoons. Each time the doctor reported 
that he was exceedingly well pleased with the 
performance of the car—but steadfastly refused 
to consider a trade in offer. 

Then on a particularly pleasant Sunday, the 
salesman failed to put in an appearance. The doc¬ 
tor was forced to turn to his old bus for his weekly 
airing. He was dismayed to find what a squeaky, 
rattle-trap car it was, in comparison to the new 
one, to which he had become accustomed. 

Bright and early the next morning he was at 
the dealer's show-room, and within an hour the 
salesman had his order for a new car. 

Illustrating the point that temporary possession 
often leads to purchase, perhaps you remember 
the story of the New England clock peddler. 
Years ago this peddler went from house to house 
in the thinly-settled rural districts, with a heavy 
pack on his back. He made little or no effort to 
sell clocks, simply stopping at each farmhouse 
and repeating his story. “I have a heavy load, and 
a long way to travel. I shall be very grateful if 


86 


MAKING UP THE OTHER MAN’S MIND 

you will permit me to leave one of my little clocks 
here, until I return this way in a few days.” 

Permission was readily granted, and the ped¬ 
dler went his way. Returning to collect his clocks 
he almost invariably found that the farm-folk 
had become attached to the little “tick-tocks,” and 
were really anxious to buy them. “What is the 
price of your clock?” was a question which 
greeted him on very side. The clocks sold them¬ 
selves and the peddler pocketed many a dollar that 
he would not otherwise have been able to make. 

This principle of selling by actual demonstra¬ 
tion was followed very largely by organ salesmen 
a few years ago, you remember. Loading several 
organs into a wagon, the salesman would go from 
house to house in the prosperous farm district. 
Locating a likely prospect, his first move was to 
unload an organ and get it into the home, before 
really opening his canvass. 

A good salesman was seldom called upon to re¬ 
move his property. Once he had fourteen-year-old 
Lucy, the farmer's daughter, seated at the instru¬ 
ment, playing Gospel Hymns, the sale was as good 
as made. Mother declared that it surely did look 
grand in the parlor. Father said that he reckoned 
maybe he would take it—on easy terms. The 
salesman accepted a down payment, a note for the 
balance, and moved on to the next farm house. 


87 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 


But whether we make up the other man's mind 
with a timely display of the merchandise, or with 
effective verbal arguments, there is one mighty 
important thing to remember: don't overdo the job. 
“Most salesman talk too much," says a veteran of 
the selling game. “Sometimes I am in the midst 
of a sales talk, and just about to say, “That is 
precisely the case." When I get to 'pre—' I see 
that the prospect is ready to buy. I never finish 
the sentence, no matter how convincing it is. I 
present the order book immediately and say 'sign 
here!' The time for a salesman to stop talking is 
the instant a prospect is ready to buy—not one 
minute before or one minute after. Never mind 
your flowery speech. Get the order while the 
getting is good!" 


88 


Aids to Action 


A N office appliance salesman who is famous 
throughout the middle west as an almost 
L infallible “closer”, declared once upon a 
time that he made a dismal failure of selling his 
proposition until almost by chance he stumbled 
upon the secret of success. 

“When I first started out” he said, “I used to 
spend all of my time telling the prospect how he 
would gain by using my machine. I found no 
difficulty in getting his interest and leading him 
right up to the buying point. But I couldn't get 
any action. My prospects positively would not 
sign on the dotted line. Their attitude was, ‘We 
agree that you've got a good thing and all that. 
Maybe we would save a little money by using your 
machine; but we are getting along pretty well as 
it is.' 

“That was the stand they took, and I confess 
that I couldn't budge them. In vain I painted 
rosy pictures of possible profits. My most en¬ 
thusiastic efforts evoked only luke-warm interest. 

“Then one day it suddenly came to me that I 
was on the wrong track. I revised and revamped 


89 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 


my sales canvass until I was showing the pros¬ 
pect not only that he would GAIN by using my 
machine, but positively proving to him that he 
was LOSING MONEY every day he delayed. 

“Presto! I began to get action with almost 
magic speed. Men who had remained impassive 
to my arguments of prospective profits, could not 
stand that harrowing thought of actual loss.” 

This thought of introducing the element of 
LOSS into a sales canvass is by no means a new, 
freakish idea. It is based upon one of the oldest 
and most dependable traits of human nature. As 
Chauncey Depew said: 

“I wouldn’t sit up all of one night to make a 
hundred dollars, but I would willingly sit up for 
seven nights in succession, if need be, to keep 
from losing a hundred dollars.” 

The salesman who is seeking a trustworthy aid 
to action will do well to play up the point that the 
prospect is losing something —time, money, health, 
pleasure, recreation—by delaying his decision. 

Of course all this sounds very elementary. And 
yet it is surprising how many of us overlook or 
minimize just such “big little points” as these. 

“I believe that often the average man on the 
road fails to appreciate just how close he is to 


90 


AIDS TO ACTION 


closing a sale,” says a tractor salesman. “Like 
Tennyson’s brook, our sales canvass runs on for¬ 
ever, when as a matter of fact if we would only 
stop talking generalities and come down to terms, 
we could get action much sooner than we imagine. 

“I recall in particular a case where I had been 
to call on a prospect—a well-to-do farmer—fully 
a dozen times without making much headway. He 
was willing enough to admit that the tractor was 
a good thing, but somehow or other I couldn’t 
get any place with him. We were just dilly-dally¬ 
ing along. 

“Finally one afternoon when I chanced to be 
in a rather reckless frame of mind, I decided to 
have a show down. I made up my mind that I 
would stake everything on one desperate chance. 
And with that idea in mind I went to call on the 
farmer. 

“ ‘Mr. Jacobs,’ I said to him in my firmest 
manner, ‘I have only a few minutes to talk with you 
this afternoon. We have gone over the mechanical 
details of the tractor. You know that it is a good 
thing—it will make you money and save you 
money—and that you ought to have it. Now, I am 
going to give you the next sixty seconds to decide 
whether or not you are going to take up my 
proposition. If you can’t decide in that time, I 
shall leave and I assure you I will not be back.’ 


91 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 

“During the allotted time I pulled out my order 
blank and handed him my fountain pen with 
which to sign the form. He did so with a sheep¬ 
ish grin. I also sold him some plows, a disc 
harrow and a barrel of oil. 

“Never since that time have I taken so radical 
a step in closing a sale, but from this experience 
I did gain a very valuable lesson. Nowadays when 
I have a prospect who is just drifting along, I 
make it a point to apply a high-pressure sales 
canvass and give the man to understand that I 
expect a prompt decision. It is really surprising 
how many ‘put-it-off prospects may be brought 
into line, if the salesman will only take a firm 
stand.” 

A retail salesman in an electrical shop has what 
he terms his “last resort” appeal for prospects 
whom he is not otherwise able to close. 

“I have on more than one occasion.” he declares, 
“thoroughly sold a woman an electric wash¬ 
ing machine or a vacuum cleaner, and had the 
man of the house balk absolutely—at the expense. 

“It is next to impossible to sell such men be¬ 
cause there is no common point of contact. A 
saving of time or labor means little to them; they 
don’t have to do the work. These selfish indivi- 


92 


AIDS TO ACTION 


duals are usually the very type who do not hesi¬ 
tate to fix up their business offices with the latest 
time-and-trouble-saving devices. If I cannot sell 
my man in any other way I use this fact as a club 
to shame him into action. More than once I have 
cornered my man by saying, ‘But Mr. Blake, your 
workroom is filled with every device to save dreary 
drudgery. Don't you think as much of your wife 
as you do of your stenographer?' 

“I have actually closed sales on this very argu¬ 
ment—a good many of them. But of course you 
have to size up your man. You can’t work it on 
everybody. Even at best, it should be reserved as 
a ‘last resort.' ” 

The art of inciting action—getting men to sign 
on the dotted line—is by no means a simple one. 
No one has ever fully mastered it. There is 
always something new to learn. 

“If I could only finish every interview as strong 
as I begin it," bewails the young salesman, “I 
could make a mighty good showing. But I just 
simply cannot close sales." 

And that's a more or less general complaint. If 
we were to tell the plain truth a lot of us would 
have to confess to being better beginners than fin¬ 
ishers. But an “almost" sale doesn't bring any 
commission check or salary increase. 


93 


MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 

It would be foolish to attempt a general cri¬ 
ticism, saying that salesmen fail to close possi¬ 
ble leads for this, that or the other reason. Each 
individual salesman has his weaknesses. He must 
battle against these specific handicaps, gradually 
getting the best of them, and thus increasing his 
volume of sales. 

A certain toilet-article salesman has become a 
top-notcher largely by analyzing each interview. 
When this man made a sale—or lost one—he in¬ 
variably tried to figure out the “why” of it. Thus 
he charted his course as he went along; learning 
by a positive process of checking up, the 
arguments to use, and those to avoid. 

Beyond a doubt, the one greatest reason for 
failure to succeed in salesmanship is —lack of con¬ 
fidence. It is the natural province of the prospec¬ 
tive buyer to be skeptical. And unless the sales¬ 
man can overcome or overshadow that skepticism 
by radiating confidence, the sale will not be made. 
But a salesman cannot radiate confidence unless 
he himself possesses an abundance of it. 

But how does one go about getting confidence? 
Put that question to a salesman for time-record¬ 
ing instruments, in the New England States, and 
he will tell you, “Take your product apart, and see 
what makes it tick; that’s the only way to get 
real confidence in your goods.” 


94 


AIDS TO ACTION 


That, literally, is what this salesman himself 
did a few years ago. When he found that he was 
unable to close orders for his instruments, he 
wisely decided the trouble lay in the fact that 
he didn’t know enough about them . So he set out 
to become an expert on time recording. 

Today he can walk in to see a prospect with 
perfect confidence, secure in the knowledge that 
he is able to answer any technical question which 
may bob up. His volume of sales has doubled and 
tripled, simply because he knows what he is 
talking about. 

Other salesmen fail to close orders because they 
talk too much. The prospect is lost in a whirlwind 
of words, and swept far beyond the order-sign¬ 
ing stage. 

The wise salesman is the man who lets the 
prospect do as much of the talking as possible. 
Most people have a natural desire to explore. 
They like to snoop around and find out things for 
themselves. Tell your sales story by all means, but 
give your prospect a chance to ask a few ques¬ 
tions. 

And then, of course, there are salesmen who 
do not talk enough. They hem, and haw, and 
hesitate, and make a few conventional remarks 
about “highest quality and lowest prices” when 


95 



MAKING A SUCCESS OF SALESMANSHIP 

they really should come through with some good 
strong, stick-in-the-craw selling arguments. A 
final clinching, unbeatable argument, just as the 
prospect is beginning to waver, has saved many 
an order that would otherwise have been lost. 

Study your successes and your failures. Get 
everything you can out of each day's experience. 
For it is only thus that you may hope to become 
as good a finisher as you are a beginner. 

The man who has the nerve to face facts and 
figures and finally analyze them for what they are 
worth, will find himself a little farther ahead 
today than he was yesterday. You may bank upon 
it, sooner or later he will make a real success of 
salesmanship. 


96 



































